So, CES packs up for another year and everyone takes a break from the full-on, week-long frenzy. However, another big event is about to steal the spotlight as Apple is expected to announce an ultra-slim laptop at its annual show on Tuesday.
The annual Macworld conference in San Francisco is the venue of choice for Apple CEO …

And there was I......

@Anonymous Coward

I must salute you, Coward, for your subtle wit. I get it! You're saying that people who can afford an iPhone are stupid because... because they can afford an iPhone! Wow. If only the poor, stupid bastards who like the device's UI and form factor had heard your wisdom, I'm sure the world would be a better place.

Jobs the Sublime Salesman

Why does everyone seemingly have such issues with Steve Jobs being the mouthpiece and salesman in chief of Apple? The man is genuinely talented in a way that no-one else in the IT industry has ever been. Apple products are highly competent and sometimes even genuinely innovative, but the man Jobs manages to spin his dreary product announcements into front page news virtually every time he climbs onto the stage.

New or refreshed Mac Book Pro please!

mini mac pro

@ Giles Jones

Heh, well said. I was half way to suggesting he looks like a cult leader or perhaps one of those guards from Equilibrium.

Jobs is, of course very talented. The ability to send sand to the arabs as a viable food source is one to be used as an example of sales techniques everywhere - the lack of ethics and "if it moves, patent it" approach is not.

RE

'Apple products are highly competent and sometimes even genuinely innovative'

ROTFLMAO

Apple products are driven by one thing, marketing and a multi million dollar advertising budget. Apple don't innovate and haven't done for a long time. They take other peoples inventions, dress it up nicely and hype it beyond belief to make the masses of sheeple believe it is a must have item. Reports on anything that isn't up to scratch, poorly designed, major flaws etc get buried by all the hype reporting.

@ Nick

As if the "if it moves, patent it" approach is the sole domain of Apple and Steve Jobs? Funny how if Jobs or Apple says it, sells it, whatever it, its pure evil and the masses are weak simpletons to fall for it. Whereas if its Gates, Ballmer, Mr. Softy, etc, well, shucks, that just fine and we'll take a two, please.

What's in the air

if it's California, and there's something questionable in the air, 30% of it is probably the part of the Asian Brown Cloud that crosses the Pacific.

as for Mr. Jobs, despite having the character of a snapper turtle (as described in a legion of anecdotes by a legion of people), and reputedly being personally unpleasant (dubious habits, marginal social skills, poor hygiene, etc.), he is also highly effective; consider Apple's numbers (now bigger than the entire music business), specifically the figures from before his return, versus what came after. Apple products are starkly different, too, and hugely popular, but numbers are a more effective, neutral metric.

Theo de Raadt (leader of the OpenBSD project) is also considered to be difficult and abrasive, but the project puts out a consistently superior product (one of the most secure OSes on the planet), on time and to spec.

i've never met these guys, so do not know them well enough personally to judge whether i'd want them as friends, but their accomplishments are impressive, and i like their work.